


we can make it if we try

by denisiya



Series: Drinking wine with your loved ones. [1]
Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Love Confessions, Wine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29556582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denisiya/pseuds/denisiya
Summary: "What if."
Relationships: Farah Dowling/Saul Silva
Series: Drinking wine with your loved ones. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171460
Comments: 13
Kudos: 52





	we can make it if we try

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This work takes place a bit earlier than "this young and fragile dream"  
> I decided to make a little series out of it because you all loved my previous one! <3  
> As always: non-native speaker  
> Enjoy! :*

_ Okay, one, two- _

No, he doesn't know what to say yet.

Saul's done it many times, he is about to ask the same thing that he usually does. So why is it so hard now? What has changed?

The intention.

It's not just a tea today, it's a moment in between classes that they can spend together. It's not just tea leaves that Ben took from his usual sacks, it's a special sort that they use only when Queen Luna comes. And it's certainly not a trembling hand that tries to knock on the door.

And he's not surprised. He hasn't courted anyone for a  _ long  _ time. He even decided to forget about it at some point: he's a busy teacher, so he spends all his time in Alfea, rarely goes outside to see the world.

He always knew that he liked her, but he tried not to think about it. He had to earn the authority, train all the time, take care of Sky after all.

Sky had a date a few weeks ago. Not like it's something unexpected, but the little boy grew up. He already has a love life, even if Saul is pretty sure that those girls are not the best that Sky could do.

So he let himself think "what if". And there he is, stands in front of Farah's cabinet, trying to figure out what to say not to look pathetic.

He looks at his watch: one hour left - one! He's been hesitating for fifteen minutes!- so he finally knocks on the door.

"Come in," the soft voice says. It makes his knees go weak.

Saul enters the room trying to straighten his shoulders and look as if nothing unusual is going on. He closes the door behind himself and clears his throat.

Farah's sitting at her table, writing something.

"How can I help?" she asks without looking up at him. Focused on her work.

"You could help me finish the portion of tea if you'd like," he says trying to be funny.  _ 'Pathetic' _ he thinks.

She immediately stops, looks at the little box in his hand and puts the pen down. "That's exactly what I'd like right now. Take a seat." 

He feels proud of himself, grins and raises the hand with the box.

She takes it, stands up and walks to the table to put the electrical kettle on, meanwhile he quickly moves the chair right next to her own chair.

"Oh," she says as she turns around with a teapot and cups and sees what he's done. And smiles. "You have something interesting to talk about?”

“Er, well.” He just sits on the chair and carefully puts her papers on the corner to free some space for the cups. “Maybe.”

“I’m intrigued now, Saul.”

Farah puts the cups and sits on her chair, slightly turning it to face him. She crosses her legs with one quick move and Saul distracts himself by pouring tea. 

“And what will that be?”   
It’s hard to think straight when she smiles at him like this.

He fumbles with his cup: too hot to drink it but he has to do something with his hands, where do people even put them while talking?

“I thought that I have some time off tonight.” Great and now he needs to explain it. “As I know you’ll be free, too.”

“I’m glad that you’ve finally remembered my timetable.” The tea remains untouched. Is she waiting for him to say it?

“I try my best.” If he moves just a little bit closer, it might be inappropriate. He clears his throat. “So I have a suggestion.”

And, of course, he needs a moment to say the rest of it. She happens to be faster.

“Are you asking me out, Saul?”

Well, she’s always been rather straightforward. It isn’t helping right now, though, he feels somewhat trapped even if that’s exactly what he was about to ask.

“I might be.” Time to look up at her. She props herself with her elbow, her head is tilted to the side. Is it a half-smile?

***

“You look nice.”

“You’re not bad yourself.”

_ Nice.  _ That’s what happens when no one teaches you how to make compliments. She looks  _ breathtaking _ . This is the right word.

At least he put on this jacket; he spent half an hour on cleaning and ironing it, and he hopes that she complimented him back not out of pity.

But she wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it? Farah never lies about these things, she always makes the environment around her comfortable for herself.

It must be a good sign that he  _ is _ in this environment, then.

He offers her his arm and she holds him by the elbow. The gesture doesn’t necessarily mean anything but it’s nice to walk with her down the path like this. Slowly, quietly, enjoying the forest around them.

“Where are we going?” She’s the first to break the silence.

“You’re familiar with the place, but I figured you rarely come here at this time of day.” 

Especially alone with someone.

“That’s true,” she sighs and, as it seems, tightens her grip, “I’ve been working too much lately, you were right.”

“Then I hope to help you relax.” 

He smiles at her as they’re closer and closer to the river. It feels natural and he almost isn’t worrying.

They are at the top of the hill, right next to the shore.

Here are his prepared blanket and a little basket. Candles are inside of it, in case he’s brave. 

“Saul…” She stops as she sees it. It doesn’t look really impressive or marvellous, but she must be surprised. She lets go of him and walks down to the shore and the blanket. She begins to undo her shoes but stops to look up at him. He nods and follows her, letting her lean on him while she’s stepping out of the shoes. Then she lowers herself, sits with her pressed to the side, propping on her elbow.

It’s a sight for sore eyes.

He spends at least a few seconds just watching her and then sits himself, making sure that his shoes are not on the blanket.   
“Dry and white?” He opens the basket and takes the glasses.

“My head wouldn’t make it with a sweet one, so great choice.” Glasses are full, one in her hand.

“Does it ache now?” He takes a small sip of wine.    
“Not head, no, just something…” She touches the back of her neck where it joins shoulders. Just tired then. 

"I could give you a massage." Nothing of sort- just a massage. He knows he's good at it, he must know all about muscles, after all.

Farah only puts her glass down to throw her hair over her shoulder. Her hair is actually up, but it's somehow also a little down… Saul has never understood how it worked, although admired it and could tell if she had a new hairstyle.

The dress that she's wearing slightly exposes her collarbones and shoulders, the boatneck he believes. 

"Oh, would you? Right here," she points at the same place, turning with her back to him.

He moves closer, shifting to have a more stable and firm position.

"Here?"

"Mhm."

He starts with just drawing circles because it always makes everyone relax and she can't be an exception. 

"Tell me about your day." So she doesn't want any silence, right.

"Students, students, you, students, Ben, students, here." Circles become smaller but he presses stronger, hoping that the muscles there are warmed up enough. From how she hums he can say that it was a good decision.

"Can't say that it's much different from mine, sadly."

"Well, why sadly? We're here now." He's supposed to start lightly hitting her back but it'd make it so awkward that it's better to spend another five minutes rubbing her shoulders.

"Sss-!" Her arm twitches and he gets terrified for a second. "Yeah, there, please!"

"It's  _ very _ tensed here, you might need to have a regular massage." He wouldn’t mind to have one himself, but it’d be embarrassing to ask her or Ben about that, wouldn’t it?

“Is that an offer?” Teasing. He can clearly hear some giggling in her voice, but the question remains there.

“Well, why not.” More like  _ I’d do it as much as you want because I want it so much.  _ It’s not even just an excuse to be alone with her, he has plenty of these excuses already. He’d love to do that so she feels better and it seems like she wants it, too.

She takes her glass and drinks more, so he pauses for a moment. “We’ll see.” She lowers her head, her chin is touching her chest and he has access again.

“My hands are not cold, are they?” It’s not really cool here, but it’s evening and it must be the worst feeling when someone touches you with freezing palms.

“Quite warm, don’t worry.”   
It gives him a bit more confidence so his movements become more firm: stress in her muscles just doesn’t have many chances.

“Thank you.”

Now she’s face to face with him, fixing her hair for the hundredth time. Letting go of her skin is never pleasant (those rare occasions when he can carefully grab her by her wrist to stop or when she’s so overwhelmed that she even embraces him) but he’s almost forgotten why he brought her here in the first place.

Wine doesn’t help at all, but it’s better to have at least something in his hand than anything at all.   
“So, Farah…”

“Yes?” Her gaze is on the river, the running water - one of the only noises that surrounds them now. However, she does turn her head to him. It’s unexpected and, well, makes him lose his words. Why can’t he just kiss her? When he was younger (to be fair,  _ way  _ younger), one kiss meant love already. It’s not that easy anymore, not with Farah.

Saul’s been thinking about it the whole day, he’s planned every possible question and every possible answer. Words just can’t come out.

And she’s been staring at him this entire time, while he was trying to figure out how to tell her that.

Well, plain truth has never hurt anyone.

“I never saw it coming but recently something has changed...” Recently. It’s been what, a year? He’s becoming so soft with age. “...in what I feel and in what I want from life.”

“Well, we all sometimes think about how to continue our life, how to improve it...”    
Oh, look at her: a perfection alive, sitting next to him and smiling with her rosy cheeks and happy wrinkles around her eyes.    
“Exactly.” Now breath in. Farah is his best friend, apart from Ben, and they’re not that simple anymore to break any connection if one confesses their love to the other. He knows that she won’t leave him even in that case, even if she denies him. But one can dream, right? “I wanted to ask you if you’d like to continue it with me, Farah.”

And she’s not surprised, nothing in her face has changed. She’s smiling exactly the same as she was a minute ago.   
He chuckles. Apparently, it’s the only thing that makes her react somehow.

“What?” She asks now half laughing, too.

“You knew that I was going to say all of it, didn’t you?”

She turns away and he hears her bursting into proper laughter.   
“Don’t forget that you can feel the tension in muscles and I can feel the tension in the whole atmosphere.” 

She hasn’t said “yes”, hasn’t said “no”. Must be the latter, then.   
Saul just sighs and sips the wine, turning to face the river which is not that easy to find now. It’s getting darker pretty soon these days. Oh, candles.

He dries the glass with one last swallow and opens the basket again to take the candles. Here are apples, too…

“Are you hungry?” he asks and raises an apple, still rummaging through the things that he’s brought. He hears no answer, but the apple from his hand disappears and he hears a loud bite. 

One candle must be enough, so he puts it in front of them.

“Saul, you are  _ romantic. _ ” She snaps her fingers and they have light again. Weak and barely helping one, but it’s rather cosy. 

“Well, it’d be strange if I weren’t? At my age, people must know how to court a lady.” He’s propping his elbows with his knees, slightly squinting from the darkness and the candlelight at the same time. He doesn’t know what he feels. Disappointment? Devastation? Sadness? Something like this, as he has this dull pain in his chest.

“I can’t say that everyone who I know is great in this department, so you must be proud, Saul.” She nudges his shoulder with hers. “You’re courting me pretty well.”   
Pretty well, but pointless, it seems. Or…

There is a sudden weight on his shoulder, radiating with warmth. Is she…? Yes, her head is now right there. And his heart is beating faster than he’d like it to be.

“I thought about it all myself,” she breathes into his jacket and slips her hand around his arm. “So I’m glad that you asked me out tonight.”

“And I’ll ask you many more times if you let me.” 

Oh, how he’d like to be the one who’ll listen to her, and talk to her, and maybe embrace her…

He finds some courage to free his arm from her grip only to wrap it around her shoulders and press her closer.

“Of course, I’ll let you.”


End file.
